USDA proposal would end food aid for 6.3 million people, tying eligibility to cash welfare

The Department of Agriculture published a proposed rule Tuesday that would sharply narrow eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, estimating that about 3.2 million households — 6.3 million people — would lose benefits once the change takes full effect, in fiscal year 2029.

The proposal, published in the Federal Register under the title "Reforming Categorical Eligibility," would limit so-called broad-based categorical eligibility — a mechanism that currently lets states automatically enroll households in SNAP if they receive any benefit funded through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program — to households that receive actual TANF cash or near-cash assistance as defined in federal regulation.

The scale of the change

According to the department's own estimates in the filing, the 6.3 million people who would lose SNAP represent about 16.9% of current participants. Roughly 1.78 million children would lose automatic eligibility for free school meals, though the department estimates about 97% of them would still qualify based on household income alone. Up to 42,000 children could lose access to Summer EBT benefits by 2029, and an estimated 5,500 of the 22,000 people who currently receive WIC nutrition assistance through broad-based categorical eligibility would no longer qualify.

The department says the current system has let states enroll households whose income or assets exceed SNAP's statutory limits, citing findings that in fiscal year 2024, 2.5 million households had resources above the program's asset limit, and 1.2 million households had income above the federal cap, while still qualifying through the categorical pathway. As of December 2025, the filing says, 46 states use broad-based categorical eligibility, and 41 of those apply no asset test at all.

What happens next

The department is accepting public comments on the proposal through December 10, 2026, through a docket on regulations.gov; the filing does not specify a separate effective date, meaning the rule would need to clear the standard rulemaking process, including a final rule, before taking hold. SNAP currently serves more than 40 million people nationwide, and state agencies, which administer the program jointly with USDA, are likely to be the focus of implementation questions if the rule is finalized, since several states have built broad-based categorical eligibility into their standard enrollment processes.